clearing the air
by tweetytweets
Summary: How did I go from dreaming about meeting Edward whom i lost in 5th grade to actually getting to stay with him for unknown period in 1 day! oh, i just found out that i have a stalker who clicks my pics n has followed me from Florida btw! AH AU EXB
1. excitement

**Clearing the Air**

**Disclaimer : I don't own anything twilight… we all know who it belongs to**

**Summary: A reunion of High School Friends called on for the purpose of a wedding. What happens when once shy now outgoing Bella meets her old classmates? Will there be any casualties? I hope not! AH AU EXB**

**A/N: This is my first ever attempt at writing and also this story has no beta… all mistakes are mine. Now let's get on with it.**

_Childhood was the best time of my life because you were there in it,_

_My school's always been the best because you were there in it,_

_The ride home in school bus was fun because you were there in it,_

_My inner voice has been my best companion because you were there in it,_

_This moment now feels great because you are finally in it… with me_

*/*

Bella felt surreal as she was getting ready for the high school reunion. She could feel pep in every step of hers. She briefly wondered who all may be in attendance today, then decided that it didn't matter anyway, she would get to see her best friend of high school Alice and that would be sufficient.

Bella was always a shy girl, always content in her close-knit group of friends never bothering to even socialize with other people of her age outside of that group. The group consisted of her, Alice, Angela and Rose. Yes, as stupid as it may sound, it was an all-girls group. Though the other girls had no problems talking to people outside the group, Bella somehow found it both uncomfortable and unnecessary.

It wasn't that Bella had anything against boys in general, but it was after a particularly awkward instance with her erstwhile best friend Edward, in 5th grade that Bella became so shy that she stopped talking to boys altogether. She remembered that before she and Edward had that awkward moment where Edward admitted to wanting to kiss Bella, she spent almost all her time with Edward. They always had their classes together, they lived close enough that they could spend majority of their free time with each other and still be done with all the school work. They had similar tastes in games and movies, so boredom was never in their company. It wasn't that Bella was not attracted to him, in fact she was, much more than she would ever care to admit. It was the fear that was deep inside her **what if this changes things between them, what if the kiss wasn't good enough for him**, that caused her to hesitate for a moment and Edward misunderstood her fear as her rejection and walked away without a second look in her direction. Then he started avoiding her like plague, he didn't attend classes for rest of the day, didn't show up at her door at their playtime and didn't even acknowledge her presence the next day. Bella wanted to confront him for his irrational reaction, but never found the courage to do so, always afraid that the confrontation would cause them to drift further apart. The only thing that made Edward a happy memory after this drawn out misunderstanding was that one time when she had accidentally eavesdropped on his conversation with his friends where Edward claimed that Bella could never ever do anything to hurt anyone on purpose, this was after one of those hyped up school episodes where the school bitch Lauren had claimed that Bella slapped her and threw her in a muddy pool. The gratitude and relief Bella felt when she heard her childhood friend defended her was immense, she wanted to immediately hug him, but she had stopped herself, it had been far too long that she and Edward had a proper conversation and this would definitely make things more awkward. But whenever Bella felt self-doubt creeping up on her, her mind would play Edward's words as if on repeat mode and she would find herself in a bit more cheerful mood.

Bella shook her head to clear her mind and forced herself to focus on the task in hand, getting ready for the day. Although it had been years since she had met Alice, she knew Alice would still be meticulous about appearances. When Bella had left to Florida for her college, she had lost touch with all of her friends, forcing her to meet new people and be comfortable around them. She had only met Alice through Facebook a month earlier when her roommate Maggie wouldn't stop bugging her to join the social networking site. Looking backwards she thought that she should probably be thanking Maggie for this day in her life. She mentally made a note to thank Maggie later on for this, took a last glance at herself in the mirror. This should be as good as it gets she thought and took off towards the cab that was waiting at the door.

Bella spent the cab ride mentally trying to picture how her friends might look at this age and how would she recognize and react to each one of them. Much too soon she was in the venue for reunion which was their playground in front of Forks High School. She paid the cabbie and started walking towards the grounds when she felt a tingling in her body, she knew the feeling too well, he was here, and he was looking at her.

*/*

**So what do you think… should I continue this.. please review and let me know**

**Smiles**

**Tweety **


	2. preparations

**Clearing the Air**

**Chapter 2: Preparations**

**Disclaimer : I don't own anything twilight… we all know who it belongs to..**

**A/N : This story does not have a beta. So all mistakes are mine**

_I have been waiting forever, to just be near you,_

_I have been waiting forever, to hear my name from you,_

_I have been waiting forever, to undo what I did to you,_

_I have been waiting forever, to get lost in those eyes of you,_

_I have been waiting forever, to smell the sweet you,_

_I have been waiting forever, to just be near you,_

_And now that I have you here, I will never let go… of you._

*/*

The constant buzz of alarm woke Edward with a jolt, which irritated him to no end. It felt like he had just fallen asleep minutes before the beast started buzzing. Edward always felt like the world played tricks on him. That whenever he was awake, the clock would run its normal course and the moment he closed his eyes, the clock would jump up 6 hours ahead and wake him up with its annoying noise. God! Why did you let human beings invent clocks he thought, it is the single most dangerous invention that has led to the destruction of mankind in many ways. According to Edward, if there were no clocks, then the constant need of competition between human beings, states, countries would not have been there. All this started as a result of chasing the clock monster was his theory. He would proudly lecture to anyone who would give him time of the day that the simplest method of achieving world peace would be by destroying every single time measurement device in the world.

Just as he was about to smash the infuriating device into pieces, his eyes fell on the calendar at his table, it took him less than a second to realize the significance of the day. It was the day of their High School Reunion. A reunion he had practically begged Jasper to arrange for he could hope of finally meeting Bella there and try to fix their jeopardized relationship. Edward had felt very much defeated when Bella didn't answer to his proposition of kissing her back in 5th grade. He could not bear to see the disgust that would no doubt be promptly shown in her eyes later, so he had made a hasty exit never even looking in her direction. He had spent the rest of the day hiding from her and seeking shelter in one of the trees that surrounded their playground. He could not gather the guts to go to Bella's home at their assigned playtime. And things went downhill from there. The next day was no better; he spent his day hiding from her when all he wanted to do was ask for her forgiveness. As days passed, they stopped speaking altogether. He missed his best friend dearly, but there was no way he could make things better without clearing the air about that unfortunate day, and that was something Edward did not want to do. Even after all these years, after losing Bella, he still couldn't find it in himself to repent for having asked for that kiss. His friend was a hot girl and all he wanted to do was kiss her. He could not feel sorry for having said so, and he definitely was not going to lie to Bella by saying he was sorry about that day.

Edward had nearly fallen off of his couch when Bella's name popped up in 'people you may know' list of Facebook. His first reaction was to click on it and go through her profile. Damn, the girl hadn't heard of privacy settings or what! All her pics were up for display for anyone who cared enough to see. She had grown beautiful with age. She was carefree and appeared to be enjoying herself in the company of her friends. Edward racked through his brain trying to come up with one other occasion where she had been so carefree and chilled out in his company, but came up with nothing. He felt anger and jealousy growing inside him at the thought that she was more open to someone that wasn't him; and this surprised him slightly. Sure he always missed her and craved her in her absence, but he was over his little crush on her; or so he'd thought until then. Now, he was far too confused. He went to her info and found that she was working in a talent grooming center as a senior instructor, she had got her masters in communication and negotiation about 2 years ago from UoF; but most importantly what he noticed was that she wasn't in a committed relationship! He felt ecstatic for a moment before it dawned on him that few people didn't declare their relationships on Facebook to avoid the aftermath of subsequent break-ups. He was gloomy again at the thought that Bella might be taken and that he had lost his chance thanks to his stupid-teenage-damned-mind. Then again he thought, 'what the hell, if they haven't declared their relationship to the world, they may not even be sure about the relationship' which means may be he still had a shot, and he would make the most out of it.

Now, that Edward had found Bella, he needed a plan to get her back. He was nervous about approaching Bella for many reasons. One, he really didn't wanna fuck it up this time around. Two, he didn't even know if Bella still remembered him or the time they had spent together or the way they had drifted apart due to his stupid declaration. Three, sure he'd had his share of girlfriends in college, nothing was too serious and now in his job as a free-lance software developer for Apple, he didn't even need to go to an office for the job, he basically worked from home and didn't have much of a social life save for occasional one-nightstands here and there to keep his libido satisfied. He wasn't even sure how the whole dating thing worked these days. He would have come up with thousands of other reasons had he been given the time and space to do so. But his musings were disturbed when his best friend Jasper started chatting with him over the site.

J: Wassup! Eddie buddy!

E: Jazz how many times do I have 2 ask u 2 stop using my childhood nickname! V r 25 for Godsake!

J: Chill dude! U kno I'm jus messing wit u rite?

E: Yeah, n what a day to mess with have u chosen..

J: whazzup ur ass dude :P

E: I found Bella.. online and now I don't kno whatta do..

J: seriously! No shit..?

E: Yep seriously

J: Alice is gonna be on sugarish high for weeks once she hears this.. wher did u find her btw

E: Came as a pop up in fb dude.. I dunno whatta do..

J: send her a freaking request and get to know her, take her on a date is what u do

E: U make it sound so easy.. but I'm sweating my ass off here..

J: what?

E: U know I fucked it up last time right? I don wanna repeat the same thing again..

J: come on Eddie, u were in what.. like 5th grade then? Sure she wudve moved on by now.. Jus take a chill pill and make a move..:)

E: Its not that easy, I will need some help..

J: kay, I n Ali will be there in 30 mins…max ensure to have food and drinks ready..

E: Thanks man.. I need it!

J: don't sweat it before hitting it darlin'

E: eww.. I don wanna be a part of this conversation anymore… im signing off..

After seeing every pic of Bella for 5 more times, Edward finally logged out and ordered pizza and gathered up wine and beer to go with it. It had been nearly impossible for the two men to stop Alice when she tried to crawl straight into the lappie screen to get a better look at Bella, much less stop her from sending Bella friend request.. which they were not.. so the rest of the planning for the big reunion had happened with Alice's eyes fixed on screen as if attached by superglue and refreshing her page every 10 seconds to see if Bella had accepted her request. She was so bad that Jasper had to practically tilt her chin, get her to open her mouth and feed her small bits of pizza and serve her wine in spoon since she absolutely refused to look away from screen for more than 3 seconds at a stretch saying she had a lot of catching up to do! Now what kind of catching up one can do staring at the photos was an unsolved mystery to the two men. It was finally decided that Alice and Jasper will host an unofficial high school reunion as a means to personally invite their high school friends to their upcoming wedding in 5 months. Alice will invite Bella to Forks under the pretense of this reunion and get her to meet Edward. The three of them agreed with absolute consensus that Edward should not contact Bella through any means before the said reunion and a thorough cleanup of his fb account was done under the nosy eyes of Alice who might have made him unfriend few of the girls stating Bella wouldn't like them where as the real reason was that Alice didn't approve of their dressing sense.

Naturally after anything and everything however insignificant about Bella was finalized, the focus shifted towards Edward; who was given specific instructions about shopping trip before reunion and had mock meetings conducted with Alice under the surveillance of Jasper regarding approved-appropriate behavior and talks. As stupid as it sounds to do all of these preparations before Bella even approved Alice's friend request, they definitely helped calming Edward's nerves. Turns out that while the trio lived their lives off of Facebook, Bella only logged in once in a blue moon. It was ten full days before Bella accepted Alice's friend request and ten more days before she exchanged phone numbers. Once Alice got her hands on Bella's number, she spent as much time as possible "getting reacquainted" with her childhood friend, which made Edward a very happy man and Jasper was left feeling all lonely and sad.

Just the day before Edward had endured shopping with Alice where they shopped for everything from socks to shoes to shirt to belt. Alice even wanted to shop for Edward's undergarments but Edward had had enough and he made a hasty exit narrowly escaping Alice's outstretched arms in the mall; which left Alice as a very agitated pixie that swore to never help Edward with her fashion insight in future. As strange as it might sound, this definitely shot up Edward's spirits to cloud level. He felt as if he had been granted a precious blessing. Of course, he kept his thoughts to himself because he liked to be in single piece when he met Bella.

So, now is the big day of reunion when Edward would finally get to meet Bella when he finds himself kissing the alarm piece he was determined to smash across the floor just seconds ago. The irony of the situation was not lost on Edward. All plays aside, he understood that this day would be pivotal in determining where his relationship with Bella would go… that is if they will ever have a relationship/friendship at all… and this thought made him incredibly nervous. He took a deep breath, returned the alarm clock to its place and started going through his "Alice approved" rituals for the day. Which was to brush his teeth exactly 200 times in the front, 100 times each side ways, 100 times in each direction from behind, clean his tongue and floss using the solution they'd bought during their horrible trip to the shopping mall; followed by shower in warm water for exactly 15 minutes, light breakfast of French Toast and Orange Juice, some meditation to calm his nerves, getting dressed in clothes laid out by Alice, try to brush his messy bush of hair and head towards the reunion venue in his recently serviced car. Though he would never admit it, Edward never counted the number of brush strokes or time spent in the shower, but he was glad that Alice was this meticulous about things or he might have forgotten something really important and ended up making a fool of himself in front of Bella.

It amused Edward how much his normally calm and chilled out demeanor had changed to that of nervous and he hadn't even met Bella yet. God help him when he would actually see her. He shook his head at his own inner voice and got dressed in the grey button down half sleeved shirt and dark blue jeans Alice had laid out for him. He ran the hair brush though his messy head a few times before giving up since it started to feel like he was plowing a tractor through rice fields which totally creeped him out. He then called up Jasper to ask if he was ready to head to the old playground; as much as Edward wanted to be there before Bella, he still didn't wanna be the first one to show up. Jasper told Edward that Alice insisted on the two of them being fashionably late; so even though he was ready, he wouldn't be able to head over there straight away. However, Tyler and Mike were already there and Edward should feel free to join them. The thought of these two creeps being alone with Bella, should she show up early genuinely concerned Edward, so he took off in his silver Volvo ignoring the speed limits to reach the place before her.

Edward had to endure a round of 'hello, how do you do's' with Tyler, Mike and Angela before he saw a cab stop right in front of the ground and Bella appeared out of it. If he thought Bella of 5th grade was hot, it was nothing compared to the Bella standing on the road right now. She was beautiful and took his breath away, no longer a pretty girl with barely any flesh; Bella had the right amount of curves to make her look the grown up she was with just a hint of baby fat left that prevented her looking like an utter zombie. She hadn't seen him yet, she was still looking around herself trying to find the non-existent differences between the place she had left and the place she was standing in right now. What Edward didn't know was that Bella was desperately trying to prolong the feeling of his eyes on her without having to look back at him straight away. It was Mike who pointed out that Bella had arrived to the group in an annoyingly loud voice that couldn't hide his eagerness to get her all to himself. The loud announcement of her name made Bella look up at the people gathered in the ground as she slowly made her way to them.

Edward was mesmerized by each one of her movements to notice anything else happening around him. That was how he missed the opportunity to stop Mike and Tyler literally pouncing on Bella to greet her. It was easy to tell that the two of them were trying to feel her up by the way they squeezed her when they hugged her welcome. Thankfully, Angela was already on her way to rescue Bella and give her a hug of her own. The two of them started chatting animatedly catching up with each other's lives of past few years. Bella was surprised to see herself answering Angela's eager questions without making it look off handed. She was proud that she was able to speak at all since her entire body was humming in the direction of Edward, who by the way was yet to speak to her or greet her. She found herself doubting if he would speak to her at all or behave like he used to all those years ago.

*/*

**So… I'll leave it at that, its not much of an improvement from first chapter I know, but we got to see things leading up to the first chapter. I actually wanted to stop it when Edward lays eyes on Bella; but I'd be pissed if an author did that.. so I took it a bit further. Next chapter will be a lot more fun with a lot more characters I promise. : )**

**And thank you so much for all the reviews, alerts, favorites each one of them mean a lot to me and makes me smile. For those of you that review this chapter, will get a teaser of next chapter. Just ensure that you are logged in while reviewing and PM feature is enabled.**

**Any scenes/ lines that you liked let me know in your reviews. You can also share your reunion experiences and I'll see if that will fit in this story.**

**See you soon**

**Till then, keep smiling : )**

**Loads of love**

**Tweety**


	3. Catching up part 1

**Clearing the Air**

**Chapter 3: Catching Up (Part-1)**

**Disclaimer : I don't own anything twilight… we all know who it belongs to..**

**A/N : This story does not have a beta. So all mistakes are mine**

_Its in the breeze that sings in her presence,_

_Its in the surroundings charged by her laughter,_

_Its in every breath that I can smell her,_

_She is here, she is really here, in the same place as me,_

_Finally everything feels just right to me_

*/*

Edward was fascinated by each and every move of Bella's every flutter of her eyes while she spoke, the way she used to shyly glance his way when she thought no one was looking, the way she would quickly art her eyes to other direction whenever he caught her looking at him, the way she used her hands a lot when she spoke, this was different; the girl he knew was far too shy to use her hands while she spoke. But he loved this change; most of all he loved that she was looking at his direction with the frequency that she did. He was so completely lost in ogling Bella, that he had no idea what Mike and Tyler were yapping to him about. He was bought out of his reverie when Tyler poked him in chest, _hard._

"Dude, that hurt" Edward said rubbing the spot at which Tyler tested the flexibility of his fingers.

"Sorry man, but I had to get your attention, you seemed lost in your own mind and we are having a _major _crisis here"

"Yeah, you were definitely not with us here" Mike added supporting Tyler.

Embarrassed at being caught and not wanting to admit it, Edward tries to find an escape route.

"Nah, I was just wondering who all might be showing up and when the hell will this party start" Edward said feeling pretty proud of himself for having come up with a half way decent excuse without giving away the person that held his interest.

"Yeah, me too; have no freaking idea who may be invited. I'm just praying that they wouldn't call any of the girls that wanted to jump me" says Mike with a fake shudder and Edward fights hard to control the gag rising up his throat at Mike's blatant ignorance. 'nobody wants to jump your bones Mike, trust me' he thought. But out loud it actually sounded like; "Yeah, that might make things quite uncomfortable".

"Jeez we are deviating from the crisis again!" screeched Tyler.

"Yeah, about that, what was the crisis about" Edward said off handedly; he had already lost his interest in the topic and started 'Bella watching' again.

"Our great Mike here feels that the Yankees can do much better if their Coach was replaced with that of the Mariners. Like they would develop the kind of talent required to be on field just by a change of Coach" Tyler explained shaking his head to and fro like a hungry dog wagging its tail.

Riiiiiiighhhht.. Yankees and Mariners.. crisis… like the teams would even bother listening to what these two losers have to say, let alone make it an issue big enough to cause crisis.

Edward couldn't believe how immature these two people could get. Sure, sports was of interest to every human that calls himself a guy; but the way these two were arguing about it and blowing it up to big proportions you would think this would be the final deciding issue in next Presidential Elections of the US. He just hoped that the other guys would get here soon and save him from whatever the BS these two had in mind.

"Well, it doesn't…." Edward was saved the need to give a diplomatic answer when Emmett's Jeep came to screeching halt across the field. Rose had accompanied Emmett on this occasion and the couple started walking towards Edward. Edward actually started running in their direction and hugged Emmett with all the strength he could muster. He started chanting an endless stream of 'thank you' in Emmett's ears.

"Its good to see you too, Eddie boy" Emmett boomed as he returned Edward's hug. "Hey, that's my man you are molesting there" said Rosalie with a scowl on her face. She then turned to look around and saw that Tyler and Mike were standing with their arms outstretched right in front of her. They were so close that all Rosalie had to do was take a deep breath and their chests would touch. This disturbed Rosalie and she took a step back wrapping her right arm around Emmett's back. And then with a determined poker face she said, "hello creeps, you are invading my personal space right here" she said motioning to the space between them with their fingers and continued "so, unless you want my knee to greet your groins a powerful '_hello, its so nice to see you_', you guys better back the fuck out. And no you are not getting a hug from me, so you can drop your arms unless you are experiencing some out of body experience with hugging the air around you an all" she said motioning to the general space around them.

Then she turned around and saw Bella and Angela staring at her with smiles so big that you could actually see the structure of all 32 teeth in there. Rosalie ran towards them and enveloped two of them in a group hug. She then kissed each one of their cheeks and turned her attention to Bella. "So Bells, how are you and where have you been! Its been such a long time since we last saw you! I had no idea that you were coming in here today! Who found you and bitch why did you not contact any of us for all of these years… you would've been getting some serious injuries with all the beating I would've showered on you right now if I hadn't missed you so much!"

"Woah, one thing at a time Rosie! I'm fine, I've been in Florida, I have a job there that I love and now I own a home there too, yes, its been a very long time since we met the last time and I missed you guys very much… I initially couldn't contact any of you because of the pressure of moving across the country and getting started with college.. then later on I just lost touch with you guys and didn't know if you remembered me anymore. I was actually surprised when I found Alice on fb, you know, but I rarely log in so I didn't get to search you people there. Then Alice invited me to this reunion and I had lots of stacked up vacation time so I thought why the hell not and ended up here. I was just catching up with Angie when you showed up. Ok, so I think I've answered all your questions and its my turn now. How the hell have you been, are you and Em still together, are you happy, well, that's pretty much all I want to know righ now.." said Bella with the smile still in place.

It was only after her rant that Bella noticed the ground had gone quiet all of a sudden and everyboy was staring at her with their mouths hanging wide open for flies to take up residence. "What?" Bella asked feeling conscious all of a sudden. She was now used to having attention of many people at once, but 6 people staring at her with their mouths open made her uncomfortable. "No, its nothing, none of us have seen you speak so much in a single breath without turning red as a tomato is all" said Edward who was the first to recover from shock of "New Bella".

It didn't escape either Edward or Bella's notice that these were the first of words spoken between them in many years. Both of them had spent many nights imagining getting reacquainted with one another, but this was not the opening dialogue in either of their fantasies. "Well, I do work in a center for better communication as an instructor and have got masters in communications, what did you guys expect from me" Bella said in a tone of mock hurt. "But we didn't know what you did until now!" countered Edward with a straight face even though he was jumping inwardly for having broken the ice and not letting know of his "discoveries of Bella" to Bella. Bella blushed slightly at this "Well, now you know…" and ended the argument about her speaking skills with a wink directed at Edward surprising both of them. '_Oh, she flirts_' noted Edward with a certain amount of glee.

Emmett who had been watching all this from a distance couldn't control his scoff at the display of blatant flirting these two were exhibiting. Rose who noticed this while Edward and Bella were busy staring at each other, threw him a warning glance that said 'you better let this be and take its own time. Don't you dare interfere.' Emmett who had known his girlfriend long enough knew this was not one of her empty warnings and she wouldn't think twice before making him sleep on couch for the following month, nodded once in her direction and started mingling with the guys that were in attendance.

Meanwhile, Rose and Angie got Bella talking to them leaving Edward an opportunity to stare at Bella once again. Not that he was complaining, in fact he had missed staring at Bella; because that was all he used to do once they had stopped speaking back in 5th grade. A loud screeching sound of a noisy truck made everyone stop talking and look up, Eric had arrived with his groupies. Back when they were in school, Eric was a popular kid since he belonged to some local band, the name of which nobody cared to remember, so it was not unusual for him to be surrounded by few people fawning over him. Seemed like it was the same case even now. Though Eric was surrounded by at least ten people, he didn't even spare them a second glance, his eyes were glued to the girl next to him, Stacey. Bella remembered Stacey from the time of her fight with Lauren, Stacey had backed her up then and ensured that the entire school knew that Lauren was nothing more than a lying bitch. Bella also remembered from that time that Stacey was always a fan of Eric, but never had the guts to speak to him. She used to pine after him from a distance, never meeting his eyes. Bella wondered what had happened that had caused this change, an made a mental note to ask Stacey about this later. As Stacey noticed Bella standing between Rose and Angie, she gave Eric a brief kiss on cheek, whispered something in his ears and walked straight to Bella. She hugged Bella, said her hellos to Rose and Angie and went to hugging Bella again.

"You can't imagine how much I've missed you, Bella. I finally took your advice and made an effort to actually speak to Eric in college, turns out that he wasn't so bad as he was projected, we were friends for quite some time, somehow ended up being single at the same time, and Eric asked me out two years ago! We are together ever since. None of this would have happened without you! Thank you so much for your endless hours of pep talk. God knows how much I missed you during the entire phase. Now that you are here I won't let you get out of touch again." Stacey said without even stopping for a breath. Bella was briefly reminded of a puppy that Maggie had 'rescued' and bought to their home which would endlessly bark at Maggie without even stopping for a breath and would pant for the next half hour. A small smile threatened to creep through her face, but Bella took a deep breath and composed herself thinking it would be rude to laugh at a friend that had missed her.

Nobody but Edward noticed the brief twinkle and start of a smile at Bella's face before she got it under control, Edward made a note to ask about that to Bella later on in his ever-growing list of 'things to be spoken to Bella'. "I'm so happy for you, Stacey." Bella said sincerely happy for her friend. "I missed you guys too…sorry couldn't keep in touch. And I'm happy that you sorted out the distance between you."

Bella ended the last part with one lingering look on Edward. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she was hinting towards the distance between herself and Edward. Edward was just happy knowing that she hadn't given up on them entirely. Though she may have not wanted anything more than just being friends, but Edward wanted more, he resolved that he would try for more, but settle for what he got in this case, since he never wanted to live without Bella in his life again. The thought in itself was painful; Edward couldn't imagine having to live through it.

Bella on the other hand noticed how happy her friend looked with Eric and wanted that kind of happiness between herself and Edward. She knew it would be a long journey, if they even get there that is; and not something that can be crossed overnight or that the route would be filled with rose petals. She knew it would take a lot of honesty and courage to make it and was determined to see this through to the end. Eric seemed to be in conversation with Edward; they were both quite close during high school, apart from being two of the most popular kids at school, they shared similar tastes in music and literature. Their tastes had bought them together and still ha them talking about it. Although Edward's friendship with Eric was nowhere near as strong as the ones he had with Jasper or Emmett for that matter, he was glad to have a friend like Eric who shared his tastes rather than make fun of it like Emmett and Jasper. Jasper and Emmett loved Edward dearly, but they didn't understand his fixation to all things classical. They often used to joke that Edward was placed in the current century by some mistake of time machine. They were sure he had to be placed a century earlier, but somehow the time machine's battery run out or some shit and he phew he was placed a century later.

After going on about how she's been and what she's doing for the third time in the same day for Stacey, Bella started feeling thirsty. Edward, who had been intently listening to every word of Bella, noticed the change in her voice and blindly reached for his water bottle and held it in her general direction. To say Bella was surprised by this gesture would be an understatement. She didn't even know that Edward was hearing her let alone paying so close attention. She took the bottle and drank a sip from it, closed it and held it in his direction. His eyes met hers briefly and she tried to convey her happiness and gratitude through her eyes. Edward smiled slightly and nodded in acceptance and then shrugged in a 'no big deal' gesture, which caused a smile of its own to find its way through Bella's lips.

After they looked away, both realized that they had a conversation complete with 'a request, grant, thank you and no big deal' with each other and yet there was no need for words to be uttered. That they had the kind of understanding that couples married for about five years craved to achieve. While this realization made both of them happy, it also freaked them out like a bunch of zombies had appeared in front of them. They were happy to know that they understood each other, freaked out that the other person would never realize it or worse think no biggie of it.

The two were so lost in these thoughts that they didn't notice Ben join the party along with Kristen and Diaz; a loud laughter brought them out of their inner musings. They looked up only to get lost in each other's' eyes. 'I could spend an eternity looking at your eyes' they thought and quickly averted their eyes before anyone else could notice. What they didn't know was Alice and Jasper had filled Rose and Emmett in on "Edward-Bella-Elopement-Mission" and that Rose and Emmett were watching every one of their moves with hawk-like precision. 'We would make a good FBI team' Rosalie thought, 'Wonder what Rose will say to role-playing as FBI agents tonight' Emmett mused.

"Anyone know which other character will show up tonight?" Tyler asked loud enough to be heard by not only Forks, but Port Angeles and La Push as well.

"Dude! Keep your voice low we are all people with normal hearing here" Edward and Emmett shouted at the same time which caused a round of snortish laughter.

"No, no one would know for sure, Alice and Jasper kept the guestlist entirely confidential" Rosalie said with a hint of bitterness in her voice. "Speaking of which, where the hell are Alice and Jasper" Stacey wondered aloud.

At the sametime, they saw another car pull up the parking, having expected it to be Alice and Jasper, they were shocked to see Jessica and Lauren exit the car.

"I promise if that skank so much as jokes about anyone using her filthy language, I will gladly separate her newly recycled nose" muttered Stacey angrily.

***/***

**So… I'm leaving it here, I could have continued it..but then I'd have to leave it as a cliffy, which I really didn't want to..**

**What do you think happens next.. did it meet your expectations? I just wanted to make it clear that Edward and Bella could never have a proper convo in front of half of Forks. So, it had to be like this..**

**Are you pissed they didn't talk, or glad? Any favorite scenes/ lines? I would really like to know what you guys are thinking.. leave a review..**

**Reviewers get teasers as usual**

**Keep smiling**

**Tweety**


	4. catching up part 2

**Clearing the Air**

**Chapter 4: Catching Up (Part-2)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything twilight… we all know who it belongs to..**

**A/N : This story does not have a beta. So all mistakes are mine**

**Firstly, I want to apologize to everyone who received two update alerts for 3****rd**** chapter. Due to some site problem, 3****rd**** chapter had disappeared from the story, so I had to re-post it. This is a genuine update and hopefully everybody will get the alerts.**

**Happy new year to the ones celebrating Ugadi today : )**

**Now, on with the show.**

_Its amazing how much you have changed since the last time we met_

_I'm proud that you are a woman that stands by her opinion_

_But with a bitter heart I take this hit that_

_I wasn't there when you went through this revolution_

_*/*_

At the same time, they saw another car pull up the parking, having expected it to be Alice and Jasper, they were shocked to see Jessica and Lauren exit the car.

"I promise if that skank so much as jokes about anyone using her filthy language, I will gladly separate her newly recycled nose" muttered Stacey angrily.

*/*

"Recycled _nose_?" Bella asked in surprise, she thought Lauren looked different, but was not able to place exactly what had changed, she would have bet on general changes of time and age more probable reason than infusion of silicon though! On a closer look, even Bella had to admit, Lauren looked like a plastic surgeon's wet dream.

"Oh, please Bella, even you have to notice the nosy bitch's nose looks considerably smaller now" Rosalie muttered under her breath with a heavy sigh. Bella looked up to ask what was bothering her when Rosalie motioned towards Angela who was staring at Ben with a sly smile on her face and followed her line of vision only to find Ben staring back at Angela with equal adoration mirrored on his face. "Same as high school, eh?" asked Bella shaking her head. "Yeah pretty much, this is the first they are meeting after the high school though, Ben is settled in New York and not a day goes by when I don't hear Angela wondering if things would've been any different if she had just gone ahead and spoken to him. I swear if these two don't make a move by the weekend, Emmett and I are gonna _intervene_." Bella had no doubts on this seeing the look of determination in her face and was happy that after all these years, they still were friends who cared for each other. She felt starting of guilt creeping up on her for not being in contact with them for so long, but she reminded herself that _whatever happens, happens for the best._

Meanwhile, Jessica and Lauren were now hovering a little too close to Edward and Eric for the girls' liking. Edward and Eric wore similar expressions of searching for a nearby place to throw up on their faces. It seemed that Stacey couldn't take Eric's suffering any longer and motioned for others to follow her and bring the guys out of their distress.

"Move over, Nose Job" said Stacey planting herself firmly in between Lauren and Eric. "Hey, like what, you like his _groupie_ now?" snickered Lauren in a high screechy nasally voice that sounded vaguely like squeak of a dying squirrel. "Oh, like I like didn't know like people had to like take _your permission_ like to be like a groupie now!" said Stacey mocking Lauren's voice and accent. It was funny as hell and Bella couldn't control laughter that erupted from her. "What was so like funny Florida?" asked Lauren with a serious look on her face that indicated she had no idea that Stacey had just made fun of her. '_Either she is a really good actress or indeed that dumb_' thought Bella before replying; "Um.. nothing, just laughed at Stacey cause she could not perfect your lovely voice" and winking at Stacey to let her know to just play along. "Must take a lot of _practice_ then" said Stacey with a look of mock adoration in her face. Lauren who had no clue what these two were playing at actually thought they were complimenting her and was dumb enough to reply "not so much of like practice, but like after my fourth nose job, the nasal passage got like blocked and voice has been like _sweet_ ever since. The doctor like suggested me to like audition for American Idol in the next season cause like my voice is like _unique_". Everyone in the ground except Jessica and Lauren shuddered at the thought of Lauren and American Idol in the same sentence. But when the information actually sunk in both Bella and Lauren fell into a fit of giggles again, which made the rest of them join in; _including_ Jessica and Lauren.

"I have no idea like what I am laughing about, but it is funny as hell" Jessica announced which made the crowd laugh even harder. Bella barely managed to control her laughter since her stomach started to hurt from relentless laughing. "Really Lauren, _four nose jobs_? What made you think they would get it right the _fourth time _when they couldn't do it the first three times?" Bella managed to ask in between her laughter. "Hey, don't judge, I got to go on a _date_ with the _hot doctor _for like getting the fourth one" Lauren said indignantly. Now Bella couldn't control her laughter and doubled over again, Stacey soon followed the suit. Lauren was fuming with anger on these two and looked over to Jessica for help, who was too busy flashing her goods in Edward's direction to notice any of this drama. Even though Edward was tempted to look, he kept his gaze steady at Bella. He was grateful for this chance to fix things between them; and didn't want to screw it up by even glancing towards Jessica and giving Bella the wrong idea that he was interested in any of the shit displayed in front of him. Although Bella had been picking on Lauren and cracking up at her expense, she had felt the steady heat from Edward's gaze and knew without looking that he hadn't looked towards Jessica for even a second; which unfortunately had only egged Jessica further on. Bella was proud that she held more interest to Edward while being fully clothed than a flashing Jessica. Not that she would have minded if he would have looked towards Jessica, Bella would have understood that Edward was a guy and guys normally couldn't help themselves when it came down to full/partially nude women in front of them. And the fact that Edward seemed unfazed by all this only increased his respect in her eyes.

Lauren had had enough of Jessica "Bitch, like help a sister out here, like tell these two _laughing loones _like what a great piece of ass that hottie doc was, like the one who did your third _boob job_ and like my fourth _nose job_. We'd had such a great time together that day with him like at our place". Rosalie thought the American Idol doctor had referred was somehow not the show in which kids come and sing beautifully only to be told that they are really the worst singers of the world by the jury. Bella stopped laughing abruptly and looked with Lauren and Jessica with real concern in her eyes. '_what has happened to these two_' she wondered. She was sure that Lauren was joking until Jessica confirmed her statement with a smirk mistaking Bella's concern as disappointment. "That's right you _slut_, we had a real good time with Dr. Laurent and you know what, we even ended up getting _special discounts_ in consideration of the time together".

Bella snorted "Don't you dare call me a slut after what you guys have confessed you bitch!" she was fuming now; and continued "call me a slut again and I will ensure you two will require a _repeat performance_ of whatever jobs you got done from that jerk of a doctor". Bella knew that she was all words and no power physically and nor was she violent enough to actually hurt someone so bad that they would require a repeat of said _'jobs'._But Lauren and Jessica didn't need to know that. "I would be happy to help you do just that, Bella" said Stacey in an annoyingly chipper voice.

"Oh, so what like you slut working with groupie whore right now?" Lauren sniggered. Stacey clenched her fists ready for the blow, but felt Eric rubbing her shoulders tenderly and whispering 'not worth it' in her ears. With a tremendous effort she calmed herself.

"What did I say about calling names Lauren?" Bella muttered through gritted teeth, her anger had already turned her face bright red by now. "I really have better things to do than to haul your injured ass to hospital when I'm done with you"

"Like what screw half of Florida? I like thought you were long done with that, wasn't that like the reason you left Forks like all those years ago?" Lauren sneered.

"You know as well as everyone else here what really happened that day Lauren, or did you forget the pain you were in when I had face punched you all those years ago" Stacey asked her voice fuming with anger, her fists still clenched. Eric began rubbing her shoulders so furiously that her dress would soon be on fire if he didn't stop it. Eric's rubbing her shoulders was not helping to calm Stacey one bit; but she didn't protest since she knew it was Eric's nervous trait. She felt her anger rise even more at the thought of Eric being upset because of _Lauren_.

Bella nodded in Stacey's direction letting her know that she has got the situation under control. "So, now you want my help in _pimping you out to Florida_ is it Lauren? Since you seem to have screwed anyone and everyone willing in Washington. Looking to expand geographically is it? Or is it that you can't afford to have _jobs done_ everytime you feel like screwing someone? Or has you pimp given up saying he can't find anyone willing to come near you and get infected? Is it just you or Jessica is there in the party too?"

Lauren laughed loudly at this "Oh, getting like _feisty_, Bella? Did it like hit a nerve like it did back then? You haven't really gotten like _any _action have you? And you are like jealous that I can get anyone I want. You are like truly pathetic Bella. Atleast your friend out here seems to be like getting some being Eric's _keep_ and all, but you, tsk tsk pathe…" Lauren was stopped mid sentence when Stacey punched her squarely on the nose and it started bleeding. Stacey had tried so hard to keep it together, but lost it when Lauren called her Eric's keep insulting the beautiful relationship they had and was grateful that Eric didn't stop her this time.

Lots of things were happening at once; one moment Stacey was hitting Lauren in the face and in next, Jessica was yanking Stacey away from Lauren by pulling her hair, then Rosalie was sitting on top of Jessica, punching her ribs while Stacey smashed Lauren's face like a pro then Stacey was on the ground while Lauren was yanking her legs up in order to get her upside own, later Angela was punching Lauren while Stacey recovered. Lauren sort of passed out. Angela and Stacey helped Rosalie throw in a few more punches on Jessica before pulling Rose up and away from Jessica for good. There was quite a bit of blood on Stacey from being on ground and _a lot_ of blood on Jessica and Lauren who had got their appendages punchered in the fight.

Emmett was hooting, whistling and congratulating the girls on their win along with Tyler, Mike, Ben and Diaz. Kristen was standing a few feet away looking really scared and in middle of this chaos only Edward noticed that Bella's breathing had changed. He knew Bella couldn't stand the sight of blood from his childhood experiences. Apparently so was the case even now. He quietly made his way to her and asked "Wanna go for a walk?" Bella inhaled deeply, his scent filled her lungs, replacing odor of blood, and nodded. She wasn't sure if she wouldn't throw up if she opened her mouth to speak and didn't want to take any chances.

Edward pulled his phone out and sent a quick text to Emmett, Eric and Angela to let them know that he was taking Bella for a walk and to let him know when the place was clear of blood and also if Alice and Jasper arrived. Bella noticed Edward fiddling with the phone and blurted out "Girlfriend?" before she could stop herself. She did not understand why she felt as jealous as she was; it was highly unlike her to be poking her nose in other's business but she really wanted to rip this girl's head off for being his girlfriend.

Edward saw the look on Bella's face when she spat the word _girlfriend _like it was a swear word and was happy at the thought of Bella being jealous of someone for being his girlfriend. It was a good sign according to him. "No, I was just letting the guys know that I am taking you for a walk and to contact us when the happy pair arrives. After all, that was the purpose of this reunion right; officially in the least!" he said in an amused tone that made Bella blush for both her tone and the fight they had witnessed. "Um.. I didn't mean to pry earlier, but just couldn't control myself and I'm sorry for that. And about the fight, Lauren had it coming from a long time for being the bitch she is I guess; and sorry for the language." "Don't be, Bella; I didn't think you were prying earlier and about the fight, I am not sorry to have witnessed _THE CAT FIGHT OF THE CENTURY_ in Forks live in person either; and do you kiss your mom with that foul mouth of yours Bella, you surely have changed since the last time we spoke" Edward's voice was soft and light hiding the torment he felt about having missed the changes the way he did. "Change is the _way of life_" said Bella in a curt tone feeling defensive all of a sudden. Edward noticed her tone and felt like a prick for having angered her in less than two minutes of talking. "I didn't mean it as an accusation Bella, I was just observing. May be my intention was to suggest that we have a lot of catching up to do. I would never blame you for going on about your life the way you did Bella. And I know it was my mistake that I missed witnessing the changes in you and I will forever be guilty for that."

Regret oozed out of Edward's voice when he made the last sentence and Bella immediately felt bad for making him feel that way. She was after all an equal party to what had happened. "I'm sorry again Edward, it's just that I get defensive whenever anyone says anything about me changing. I didn't mean to make it sound the way it did. Yes, we have a lot of catching up to do, and I am looking forward to it." She finished with a smile. "Bella, I didn't mean to.." Edward started but Bella held a finger out motioning him to stop. "Edward, no doubt we have to talk; but please can we not do it right now. We are here on borrowed time and I would really hate if we are interrupted while we are clearing the air.. so to speak. I am here for another month and a half, surely you can spare a few hours with me in that time. I don't mean to assume or insinuate that you cancel your plans for this; but I think it is required." The way Bella spoke – her voice unsure but her decision firm was a rare combination that Edward had not come across until then and he found himself growing even more intrigued about this 'New Bella'. "Don't be ridiculous Bella, I have all the time in the world for you, I am free to talk whenever you are." Bella was happy to hear that Edward ha time for her and smiled before saying "What do you feel about meeting up for a brunch tomorrow, by elevenish, we can do the whole '_Sunday Brunch'_ thingy." She said Sunday brunch using air quotes that made Edward laugh. "Sure, no problem, Bella. Can you come by to my place? We can order out." "Okay, but I don't know where you stay Edward." Bella said raising her eyebrows. "No biggie, I will show it to you when I drop you back today." Bella nodded her approval while all she wanted to do was shout that _'I am having brunch with Edward Cullen, and he is giving me a ride to_ _hotel'_ on top of her voice. This surprise even Bella, she was never the show off types and the giddiness she felt about spending time with Edward was something that she thought she had gotten over by the end of college. She thought of herself as a matured girl who didn't do giddiness, but apparently was mistaken.

Coming out of her reverie, she noticed that they were heading back to the venue of reunion and stopped moving. "Hey, Emmett texted that scene is all clear of blood now. They had an ambulance take Jessica and Lauren to hospital, Rose and Stacey were treated on spot. And it's around the time Alice and Jasper should arrive; we may as well go now. Or we can stay back for a bit if you want… It's your choice Bella." Edward said in a calming voice and Bella was stunned by the care that showed in his voice. "It's ok Edward, we will go now. I wouldn't wanna face the wrath of pixie for being late!" Bella mocked in Alice's voice that made Edward shake his head and laugh. Just as they were reaching the grounds, Bella called "Hey Edward, thank you."

*/*

**So… I'm leaving it here, this was by far the most difficult chapter to write.. I hope it was worth the time. Let me know if you think it was also, leave a word if you didn't think so..**

**More than 1000 hits… I am blown away people.. thank you for taking time to read this fic… although the reviews are way less than proportionate to reviews and alerts, I am still happy to know that there are people reading this fic. It would be nice to know what you guys are thinking… but if you don't feel like leaving a review I won't force you to. I just want to let you guys know that each hit, each alert, each favorite means a lot to me. And reviews make me smile.**

**What do you think happens next… did it meet your expectations? Edward and Bella have an unofficial 'date' although I doubt if that will be in next chapter. We get to meet Alice and Jasper next… Also, homage is paid to one of the most hilarious fan fics I've ever read in this chapter, can you identify what it is…**

**Have you ever injure a person in anger? Any favorite scenes/ lines? I would really like to know what you guys are thinking.. leave a review..**

**Reviewers get Edward hugs and Bella smiles and teasers from me as usual**

**Keep smiling**

**Tweety**


	5. lunch

**Clearing the Air**

**Chapter 5: Lunch**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything twilight… we all know who it belongs to..**

**A/N : This story does not have a beta. So all mistakes are mine**

**Important question below at the End Notes**

_Yes, its you… you have changed so much but you are still the same;_

_Your smile remains lovely as ever and matches your name;_

_Your eyes are so bright they put stars to shame;_

_Feels like you are mouthing something, can I hope that its my name?_

_*/*_

"Don't sweat it, Swan" Edward managed to reply as non-chalantly as possible. He was feeling miserable inside at the thought of having to share Bella with so many people. He wanted her all to himself and their time alone had come to an end. '_I should be allowed to keep her all to myself_' he thought, '_It was after all my brilliant idea that this whole reunion thing is happening anyway_'. '_Yeah, and it is because of your brilliant idea to make reunion look genuine all these hawks were invited and they will be feasting on Bella, all thanks to YOU_' his snarky inner-self replied. '_Great, now I am debating with my inner-self too_' he thought. '_All is your making Eddie!_' his inner-self mocked Emmett style.

"You okay? Edward" Bella's voice bought Edward out of his head. '_Great, now she thinks I am a moron too_' '_keep it up Eddie, and in no time you will find yourself in Port Angeles Centre for Special People. Her father is a cop and I bet he has connections there_' '_Yeah and my dad is a doc and I bet he has connections there too_' '_you are just making an even bigger fool of yourself now_' the conscious side of Edward answered finally breaking its silence, sounding bored. '_Wow, just wow Cullen! You have finally managed to bore your own consciousness! That must be some kind of record!_' his snarky self was now clapping its hands in excitement. "Will you two just shut up? I have to answer to Bella's question for goshness sake!" he had spoken out aloud before even realizing what was happening.

Bella being her perspective self; immediately understood that Edward was having a '_moment_' with himself. Having had a lot of '_moments_' herself; she knew that look and that tone. However, Edward didn't know that; and it would be _so much fun_ to watch him squirm for a bit, and Bella was not above pulling his leg for some time. Smiling to herself, Bella quickly rearranged her facial features which she hoped looked as '_concerned_'. "Edward, if you are not feeling well, its fine, I am sure Em or Eric would take you to hospital, we can even call 911; I guess, they can't be that far away, since they just picked Jessica and Lauren. Oh, that's even better, I will call 911, and you will even have company if you went in with them and won't feel left out from reunion. Here, sit down on this rock and let me call them" somehow Bella managed to keep up the façade during entire dialogue. Edward watched in horror as Bella pushed him on the nearby rock and started patting her jeans in search of phone. His eyes immediately went to her subtle curves and his inner self made a comeback saying '_Wow, Cullen she is about to send you to hospital and if she notices what you are looking at; you will be admitted for an entirely different reason than now_' this made Edward angry and he shouted "Will you please shut up for a minute… its entirely your fault that I am even in this situation now!".

Again, he didn't notice until it was too late that he had spoken out aloud. He saw Bella watching him intently with her phone in one hand and other hand was on hip. It looked cute and intimidating at the same time, Edward had no idea how she managed to do it, but he was extremely turned on by the sight and had another problem to be added to the ever-growing list of problems that was his life. Bella raised an eyebrow in the will-you-explain-why-the-hell-you-just-shouted-at-me fashion and Edward became very interested in the texture of rock he was sitting on. 'Oh, please cut it out! Or she _will_ make that call' his angelic self reminded him and he cleared his throat in a dramatic manner. "Edward?" Bella prompted, "Hmmmm yes... I… Ummm… I was not talking to you just now Bella.." he offered pathetically. Bella had a hard time in controlling her laugh but somehow managed to do it; narrowing her eyes at him she asked "Oh really, so whom were you talking to then? Cause I don't see anyone else in the hearing range.." Edward could not even meet her eyes this time. He knew that once he tells her _what _happened, she will surely think he was a mental patient that had managed to escape from the asylum. But there was no other go, he had to tell her now. He felt his snarky self coming to life, but he willed it to stay inside his head "I sometimes get lost in my own head" he confessed before he lost the courage. But Bella wasn't done with him, not by a long shot "Come again" she said sounding a little too curious to Edward. "I sometimes have dialogues with myself, it doesn't happen often, but sometimes when I am either nervous or angry, I.. I.. I cant help it Bella" he said looking up to meet her eyes and pleading her to understand. "You know hearing voices or talking to oneself is not really a good thing right… have you spoken to anyone about it Edward? Your dad _is_ a doctor, surely you would have spoken to him right.. what did he say". "Umm.. no, I haven't, it doesn't really happen all that often, I swear Bella" "then why did it happen now… what are you nervous about Edward" "I am not nervous.. I am angry" at this Bella got confused why was he angry when they were heading back. Was she _that_ pathetic that he thought his time was a waste being spent on her… but _he_ had invited her over for lunch himself, and offered to drop her back… what was with Edward and his mixed messages she wondered. "What are you angry about Edward?" Bella asked in a curt tone. Her tone was not lost on Edward, and he immediately understood that Bella had thought the worst of his answer. He didn't know any other way to fix this than blurt out the truth. As foolish as it would seem to say it, it would do much more damage if he didn't say it. "I am angry that once we reach the playground, I am gonna have to share you with so many other people. I am angry that Alice invited so many people to this reunion and not just me and you. I am angry that I spent so many years without contacting you, I am angry that we have lost so much time and there is barely any to make up for it. I am angry for so many things Bella. But I am also grateful that you are here with me right now, and whatever happens once we get to the playground I will still have you all for myself tomorrow at the brunch; and for that I am grateful."

Bella could see the absolute sincerity shining in his eyes and felt bad for playing with him. She decided to end his misery "you know what _I _am grateful for Edward? I am grateful that Maggie made me join that awful website facebook, I am grateful that Alice found me and invited me so that I got to meet you," she pulled him up from the rock and started walking as fast as she could towards the ground, "I am grateful that you remembered my weakness for blood and brought me out before I could embarrass myself" they were just a few feet away from the ground by now, "I am grateful that you still want to spend time with me and have invited me over." By now they had reached the gates of playground, Bella pulled her hand away that Edward had been holding all this while "And more than anything I am grateful that we are in the ground now and that you cannot do _funny business_ when I admit, that I totally knew what was going on in your head the moment you got that look, and I get lost in my head a lot of times too, and I was making fun of you all that while" with this she started running as fast as her clumsy feet would carry her without tripping over something and started laughing really loud.

It took a few seconds for Edward to process what she had said before he started chasing her across the field. He was both ecstatic and annoyed at her. Ecstatic that they seemed to have found the comfort level they used to share all those years ago, annoyed that she had made fun of him. He knew that Emmett would never let him live this down if he ever found out.

*/*

Alice, Jasper, Rose and Emmett noticed the antics of the pair and shared a knowing look. They had decided that they would not question them too much in other's presence and make it uncomfortable and decided to act as if the entire episode had gone unnoticed.

Bella heard a familiar click click sound of a digital camera while running and looked around to locate who was taking pictures, but could not find anyone. '_Strange_' she thought and focused on running towards the gang. By now she was excited about meeting Alice and the adrenaline rush from running just added to it. She approached them with a big smile on her face and praying that they would not ask about the chase with Edward. No sooner than she stopped in front of pixie, she was enveloped in a bone crushing hug. No kidding people, Alice could _actually choke_ people to death with her hugs were she so inclined. "Alice.. Alice… need.. need to.. breathe.." Bella choked out. Her sound was barely heard above the squeals of Alice saying how glad she was that Bella made it, how much she missed her, how they needed to have some solid girl time. "Alice.." Bella shouted a little louder this time, shaking the pixie. Alice realized what she was doing and released Bella. "Sorry, I got carried away…" she explained with a sheepish look. "Its ok Ali, just don't murder people alright.. I missed you too" Bella said excitedly. Bella thought she saw a thin red light travel up her shoulders. When she saw again to check, there was nothing. She had a feeling this will somehow not end in a good way, but before she could dwell on the dark corners of her mind, she was interrupted by loud howls of laughter surrounding her. She'd missed the joke completely, but joined them as if she had heard every bit of it. She turned to face Jasper and Emmett "I missed you guys too" she said giving them a side hug. "We missed you too, Bellie boo" they repeated at the same time causing Bella to blush at her childhood nickname.

She turned around to find that they were the only six people in the ground. "Where are the others?" she asked to no one in particular. "Oh, a few of them went to help Lauren and Jessica into hospital, Stacey was taken to the nearby clinic for stitches and others will join us at the hotel, so they are on their way" replied Rose. "Alice, I am so sorry for what happened with Lauren and Jessica, but they were simply too much. I feel bad for spoiling the reunion" Bella said sadly. "Oh, never mind, they had it coming for them from a long time and totally deserved what they got. And what do you think of me Bella? Do you seriously think I invited them today? They invited themselves and since it's called a reunion, I couldn't exactly tell them they were not welcome here. So what happens happens for the good.. Don't you dare apologize for something _that epic_" Alice told in a no nonsense tone that Bella loved.

"I have a complaint though… you guys finished it before we even came here… its really rare that something that fun happens in _Forks_ and I missed it" Jasper sulked. "Totally dude, you should've seen Rose, Stacey and Angie go at it.. it was better than porn actually" Emmett boomed which caused Jasper and Alice to stick their tongues out like five year olds and everybody stated laughing. "Congrats by the way Alice and Jasper.. for the wedding I mean.." Bella clarified. "Thank you" they both did a choreographed bend over, which sent everyone laughing again and Bella heard the clicking sound again. "From where is that clicking sound coming?" Emmett asked Alice saving Bella the trouble to do so. "Seriously, did you call in a secret photographer or something Alice?" Rose asked. "No… Oh God! I can't believe I forgot that… See what I mean by _I_ will screw up the wedding Jazzy, I forgot to call a photographer today, how will I ever organize a perfect wedding" Alice started wailing. Jasper shot a dirty look at Emmett and Rose and started consoling Alice whispering over and over that everything will be fine and she will organize a wedding that everyone will remember for a long time. Bella was both relieved and panicking at the admission though. Relieved that she wasn't imagining the clicking sound and panicked that if not an invitee; who was taking all the photographs. She didn't have much of a time to dwell on this though, since nobody else was concerned on camera clicking and Emmett and Jasper had a hard time controlling growlings of their stomach; the bunch headed to the hotel they were supposed to meet up in. It was decided the girls would ride in Alice's Porche and boys in Emmett's Hummer.

*/*

Nothing significant happened in the ride for both Bella and Edward. Girls just asked various questions about Bella's life and what they missed in the past years. The only thing Bella remembered was feeling extremely embarrassed during boyfriend talk since she didn't have any one serious ever… she just went for a couple of dates and before too long she would feel he wasn't the one and call it off. She defended herself saying "I see true love in front of my eyes on a daily basis in form of Maggie and her fiancée; and I don't wanna _settle_ for anything less" to which girls agreed. Meanwhile Emmett and Jasper asked Edward 'the deets' of what happened when he got Bella all to himself but Edward didn't budge saying it was none of their business.

*/*

Lunch was pretty mundane as well; Alice had booked a party hall and pre ordered yummy buffet so they all just walked around chatting with others and just enjoying the company. Bella noticed Edward looking in her direction at more than one occasion which pretty much meant that she herself stared at Edward A LOT! It was all fleeting stares and shy smiles when Bella thought she heard the click of a camera again, but there were no lights flashing and Alice had already told she didn't invite a photographer. She felt guilty enough for the bloodshed that happened in reunion; she didn't want to add fear of stalkers to it. 'it's nothing; it's nothing' she kept chanting to herself and managed a small smile. Edward who was staring non-stop saw confusion, fear, anger and determination dance in her face before she put on a fake smile and wondered what was wrong. He walked towards her to ask just the same thing when she was interrupted by Stacey who was showing off her bandaged knuckles as a Victory Mark. Edward thought he will just ask her about it later. The same pattern continued till late afternoon when the bunch were sipping their drinks. Bella was finally beginning to relax since she hadn't heard mysterious clicks or seen weird red lights dancing on her body when her phone started ringing; seeing the called id as Maggie Bella cursed for having forgotten to ring her up once she got settled. She was ready for full wrath of Maggie's shouting but all she got was an enquiry for Alice's cell number which after confirming with Alice, she gave it without a fight and a small word to look into her email and that she would call back in few. "This is _really strange_" Bella thought while waiting for the attachments to open, but was shocked when she saw the pics. It was of her in her hotel room, then a few of the room itself in the state that she left it in…meaning someone was in there after she left it, a few of her with the gang, a few of the girl fight, a few of her and Edward near the rock, a few with Alice and a few of… wait over there.. the lunch as well… that shocked the hell out of her. This had not gone unnoticed by the others, Alice, Rose, Stacey, Emmett, Jasper and Eric were standing right in front of her gaping at the expression on her face while Edward had moved next to her and was looking into the phone, his expression matching Bella's. Bella's phone rang again, Maggie it was.. "Bells, are those pics of you today honey?" Maggie asked in a hushed voice that Bella knew all too well which meant she was on the verge of panic. Swallowing the lump in her throat she replied "Yes" and the line went dead.

*/*

**So.. that's it for now.. I know it's a cliffy and I am evil for doing this… but trust me there was no other place to end it. And also this is an early update and that's gotta mean something right…?**

**So, the important question is, I got a request for lemon in this story. This story is based on real life experiences of one of my friends so I would like to keep it T rated. However, I may consider writing a lemon as an outtake when ExB get there. If you guys want that lemon, you have to let me know… I am not about to write a lemon that nobody would read. You can send your requests in reviews or PM.**

**Another thing, you guys might want to read the summary for this story again, I have updated it. I don't really believe in giving away the whole plot when the first chapter is posted, so I keep updating the summary as plot deepens. Like it or not, that's the way I work.**

**What do you think happens next? Is it some crazy ass stalker or do we have a bigger problem in here? Let me know what you guys think.**

**I think traffic stats are playing games, there were more than 200 hits for last chapter and just 2 reviews! That shouldn't be possible right… So if you were here.. just let me know that through a review.. even a simple : ) or : ( would do…**

**Reviews are comfort from crazy stalker thoughts.. Leave me some and get teaser for the next chapter.**

**Keep Smiling**

**Tweety**


	6. Unexpected

**Clearing the Air**

**Chapter 6: Unexpected**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything twilight… we all know who it belongs to..**

**A/N : This story does not have a beta. So, all mistakes are mine. Before I start I would like to thank bornonholloween for being the reason I started writing this fic. If it wasn't for her inspiration; I would never really have started writing this. Thank you boh. **

**And sorry for the delay in posting. Fanfiction was acting funny with the alerts and I really couldn't upload this sooner. Paragraphs that take place in Bella's head are in italics. Now on with it…**

_Life is too short to worry and_

_I've made mistakes that I don't wanna repeat_

_I don't care what the rest of the world says_

_Im married to you and now wedding march is on repeat_

Bella's phone rang again, Maggie it was.. "Bells, are those pics of you today honey?" Maggie asked in a hushed voice that Bella knew all too well which meant she was on the verge of panic. Swallowing the lump in her throat she replied "Yes" and the line went dead.

*/*

A single tear escaped Bella's eyes when there was no voice on the other end. She desperately wanted comfort of Maggie at this point; she wanted nothing more than to be wrapped up in arms of her best friend, being gently rocked back and forth on the floor when her friend whispered things like '_it's ok bell, it's possibly just some psycho who has no other better work and has a lot of charged batteries and a digi cam and lot of time in hand_' like so many other times when Bella had comforted her friend. But when it was Bella's turn to need comfort, her friend had turned away – just ended the call – without even assuring that they will figure everything out – this was the cruelest thing anyone had ever done to Bella.

Just when she was getting all riled up at the betrayal by her friend, a thought occurred to Bella that – possibly it was not Maggie's fault that the call got cut. She might have passed out due to shock – Maggie was a strong girl but the past year had been hectic on her. Between her engagement and the stalker behind her she was completely drained and had to be admitted to hospital more than once.

_'She's not like that and you know it' Donald almost barked at Bella. 'Yeah right, that's why she cut the call' Daffy Duck snapped. 'He is just trying to create more problems for you, and you know it. He's been trying to do it forever Bells' Donald said patting Bella's shoulders lovingly. 'I am just looking out for you. Not everything that shines is gold Bella, that duck has landed you in trouble more times than I can count on my feathers Bella, he is just naïve, listen to me… Maggie ditched you, why else would she have cut the call 'Daffy shouted waving its winged arms frantically at Bella's face. 'I may be naïve, but I am not stupid. May be the whole world is not good, but Maggie is good people and you know it. Can you even forget what that poor girl has been through for you? She was the first one to accept you when you moved to Florida, she moved in with you when you were in need of a roommate at the time the bitch Jane moved out with just two hours' notice; she left her aunt's place, fought with her parents to be there for you. Can you forget the number of times she has helped you during your training when you would face stage fear; she used to gather her ridiculously large family to make you feel more confident about speaking in a group; her entire family loves you; and her boyfriend even made sure to assign security to you once this whole stalker issue started – which you foolishly left behind in Florida by the way – and the number of times she has been there to pick up the pieces of your broken heart after dates – can you forget them – the number of times you've drunkenly vented on Edward, the girl has been a saint and tolerated you – the call could have got cut because may be there was no battery – maybe she didn't have enough of balance – maybe she passed out again – may be her Rajveer cut it cause she burst into tears – may be … I don't know.. But there may be some other reason, Bells' Donald was jumping up and down in frustration, he had turned red from face to end of his tail by the end of this rant. 'Yeah right, listen to this loser and his maybes, but the fact remains that she hung up on you without even a pep talk' Daffy was laying on his back and lazily fanning himself with a black feather. Donald was full-on glaring at Bella and Daffy now and Daffy was doing some weird tap dance thinking Bella will take his side yet again. Bella was alternately staring at Donald and Daffy clearly confused since both of them had valid points. She wished that someone would magically appear and help her out. As if waiting for the invitation, Yogi Bear stepped out of the cloud and jumped in front of Bella. 'Bella, don't let these idiots make you decision for you. Why don't you wake up and try to find out the facts by yourself' he said sitting next to Bella and staring into the clouds that he appeared from. 'And how is she supposed to do that' both Donald and Daffy asked Yogi together as they stood nose to nose from him. Realizing that they both had spoken the same thing simultaneously and actually agreed with each other, they stopped talking and ran away in opposite directions shouting curses at 'The almighty' for dooming the world. 'Bella, wake up, call Maggie yourself and ask her what went wrong. I hate to take sides… but, I have a feeling that Donald is actually right this time around, though I would never tell him that; and neither would you if you ever wanted to see me again' Yogi said in a tone that suggested no funny business. Bella nodded in understanding when it started to rain._

"Bella, Bella …. Bella… BELLY BOO… BELLS.." Bella woke up to splatter of water on her face and frantic voices shouting her name. Bella had gotten a dazed look on her face one the call had got cut, she looked as if she was gonna cry and then had collapsed. Luckily Edward had been standing right next to her looking at her with concern and had been able to catch her before she hit the ground. Others had gathered around immediately and Alice had walked away as her cell rang insistently. Rose started to shake Bella and Stacey had run to get water to sprinkle at her face.

Bella finally gained consciousness with few more sprinkles and started looking around herself confused at the strange place she woke up in; before she remembered the events of past few hours and couldn't control the tears that started flowing from her eyes. Edward who had been looking at her with concern before was now completely freaking out. It was a complete chaos, nobody knew what to say or what even happened, they all turned to Edward and asked him what she was seeing on her cell before she got the phone call. He explained that it looked like her pics from today and nothing more. This got them to worry even more. They kept on questioning Bella, but she would not answer. Edward asked them to back off and started to pat Bella's back soothingly, whispering over and over again that it will be okay and nothing really was wrong.

Bella was thankful for Edward's presence; she was feeling her anxiety get washed away with every pat of Edward's hands. She wanted to thank him, say that she will pull herself together soon, but nothing would come out of her mouth. Just then Alice walked over towards Bella, shutting her phone "Bella, Maggie had called me."

'_See, she is already seeking a new friend' Daffy made a dramatic appearance and landed in Bella's lap. 'She might have called because our dear Bella here passed out' Donald deadpanned while materializing right next to Daffy. 'I thought I told you to not listen to these two, Bella' Yogi bear said banging his head on the nearest wall and looking extremely disappointed. You would think someone stole his honey collection by looking at him. They were all erased by a big wipe of Alice's hand._

Alice was frantically waving in front of Bella asking her if she was still there with her. "Bella!" she shouted one last time. "Huh?" was all Bella could manage. Edward increased his grip on her thinking she was ready to pass out again. "Bella, I said that Maggie had called me and ordered that you are not allowed to stay alone at any place and that she and some Indian dude were gonna meet up James and call back with a plan.. whatever that means" she said waving her hand dismissively.

'_Told you so…' Donald and Yogi were singing walking hand in hand all over then room. 'I thought we weren't supposed to tell Donald that!' Bella thought staring at the direction they disappeared into._

"Bella? You there with us? I am sure one of the girls will go with you if you really wanna use it…" Edward asked softly squeezing her arms when he saw her staring in the direction of restrooms. "Hey did Angie and Ben join us for lunch? I completely missed them". Bella spoke up startling others. "They were actually supposed to ride together, but I didn't find them either" Rose confirmed. "Speak of devil and it shall appear!" Emmett boomed pointing towards door. Everybody looked up to find nervous looking Ben and Angela standing there linking arms. There was something different about them though.

Em : "_Holy_"

Jaz:"_Shit!_"

Eric: "_indeed..!_"

Edward, who was completely absorbed in watching Bella, missed this entire exchange. On one end he was happy to see that Bella had seemingly redeemed herself of her stupor; on the other he was worried that there was more to it than she was letting on; and Alice had been so cryptic in what she said 'should not leave Bella alone' – sure he had no problems with that; 'a plan and someone James' – what the hell was that – is he _the boyfriend_ that Edward originally worried about – and why the hell would Bella's friend call Alice? Nothing seemed to make sense to him. But obviously it made some sense to Bella since her face had visibly relaxed after that bit of information. And as much as he wanted to ask Bella what the hell was going on; he had to tear his attention away from her and focus on what was happening in front of him. Emmett, Jasper and Eric seemed to be completing some sentence that everyone had in mind and sounded… shocked? He unwillingly looked at the front door mumbling an irritated "What" to find Ben and Angela standing a little too close, holding each other, Angela had a_ bouquet…_ in her hand, and their hands glimmering with… was that a wedding band… _A.. Wedding… Band…_

"You've _got to_ be kidding me!" Rose exclaimed as she walked over to them, enveloping them in a hug. "Details… we need details" the rest of the girls weren't far behind, which spurred the guys to go greet them too. "Um… we got talking on the ride here and found out that both of us had always had a thing for each other and felt like we had already spent enough time apart and now would be as good a time any to take things further.." Angela explained shyly looking at her groom. "Well, then one thing led to another and we kissed.. It was amazing and I knew that she was the one… we were passing by the church at this point, we just walked in to find Angela's father Reverend there and I just happened to blurt out that I wanted to marry Angela, Rev looked towards his daughter who nodded happily, he then asked me if I was sure and that we had just met after a long time… maybe we should get to know each other better before taking this step. When we had initially walked in, I had no intentions of marrying her right today without any family or friends around, but Rev's confusion of our state actually made me consider it and I liked the idea more than I should have. I then asked Angela if she would like to get married right that moment, she agreed and we got her Dad to perform the ceremonies for us. He was happy for his daughter and said that '_We always have his blessings as long as we are in God's path_'. And so we are here, married and happily I might add" Ben finished for her.

"But where did you get the rings and bouquet? And license?" Stacey shrieked. "Well we both had our Driver's License with us; Rev was drawing up papers when I and Angie sneaked out to get the rings and bouquet. Angela's family made it to the church meanwhile and they were witnesses for our wedding. I called up and spoke to my parents too… they are annoyed that I eloped but happy nevertheless. So we are all good. And before you guys ask… Yes, we will throw a big reception party, we just came here to inform you guys of our wedding and thank Alice for being the reason behind all this." "Thank You Alice. We owe you so much" both said in unison. "We will call up later with the details when we work it out, but we need to get going… my parents are waiting for us to show up at lunch. Thanks guys and bye" Angela said tugging Ben away from the group. They waved to the group as they retreated towards Ben's car.

"Wow, that's a lot to wrap my head around for a day…" Rose said sounding amused. Everybody nodded in agreement and turned their attention to Bella. "Care to explain what is happening Bella?" Eric demanded mildly annoyed. "Hey, don't crowd on her, give her some breathing space" Edward said defending her. He didn't want to push Bella too far. He knew something was wrong and while he wanted to know what it was, he wanted Bella to tell them because she wanted to and not because she had to.

"No Edward, its ok… I owe all of you an explanation anyways… but can I have some water before please" said Bella softly. "Here you go sweetie" Stacey handed over a glass of water having already anticipated Bella's request. Bella took few sips of water and breathed heavily, bracing herself for what was coming next.

"Before I tell you what all this is about, I need to ask Alice a few questions"

"Go on"

"So Maggie called you as soon as she hung up on me?"

"Yes"

"How did she sound?"

"I don't know how she normally sounds on the phone, but I am pretty sure she was crying and there was someone soothing her I guess, I heard hushed voices in a weird language in the background."

"Oh, ok that must have been her boyfriend, at least she was not alone to face this. Thank God. And what exactly did she tell you Alice?"

"She said she wanted me to do her a huge favor. When I agreed she told me to ensure that you are not left alone for even a single minute and that probably you shouldn't be getting back to that hotel to stay the night. She said that you would possibly fight the idea, but she wanted you to stay in one of our houses. Then she said some name was it Raj.. Rajivee.."

"Rajveer"

"Ya right Rajveer and she were going to go meet up some James with the new developments and get back to us when they have a plan."

"Is that it…"

"No she also told me that she hasn't said any of this to you because she knows you will fight and will not want to burden anyone, so it will be my responsibility to ensure you find some other place to stay and that she had to hang up on you to make these arrangements with me."

"Huh? That's a lot to take in… can you guys give me a minute please"

"Take all the time you need sweetie" Rosalie said patting her shoulder from the other side. While Edward was still holding one.

Bella took a few more deep breaths trying to calm herself while her friends tried to comfort her. Edward felt helpless that he wasn't able to do anything more than just hold her.

"Well, this all started a few months back when we got a mysterious package at our door. There was no address of the sender or any stamps on it. So it was obviously hand delivered. The strange thing was there was no recipient's name on it either. We didn't think much of it and opened it; inside were many photos of Maggie and her boyfriend Rajveer taken at different locations, in different poses, and behind one of the photos, there was a print that said 'SOON'. We decided that may be it was a prank by one of our friends and didn't take it seriously. But we called up Rajveer and informed him. He came over, had a look and preserved it in case it would be required in future. After a few days the same thing repeated, we got another package with different photos and 'SOON' was written behind one. Rajveer is from an influential family back in India, they got a detective hired on the case immediately. That detective is James. Over the months, there were few more packages and a few suspects were called in for interrogation. Rajveer hired a full time security for Maggie and we started becoming conscious of camera flashes and clicks. The photos were normally of Maggie and Rajveer, so we couldn't pin point who was the target of stalking until last month. Last month we received 2 packages in a gap of 15 days and this time, they had pics of Maggie and me. So we were sure of one thing that the stalker was behind Maggie. Since even I was in the pictures, Rajveer hired security for me as well. I had them following me around everywhere I go in the past 20 days. This is one of the reasons why I took this long vacation and came in here. I figured nobody would dare stalk the Chief of Police's daughter in such a small town and left the security behind. I didn't want to bother Charlie with all this so I am staying in a hotel. And today, I thought I heard camera clicks at various occasions, but I didn't wanna panic anyone so I kept quiet. And turns out Maggie received another package today exclusively of my photos here which she sent me in the mail before the phone call. So that's all that I know about what happened today. And now Alice says I can't go back to hotel I don't know what to do or what to think anymore…"

Bella had tears flowing down her face by the time she finished. Others were so shocked by what they had heard that they could barely even move. The mood in the buffet room had instantly shifted from joy to confusion. Edward could not even understand what was happening to him. He felt an instant need to hit something hard and was losing control on his hand that was still patting Bella's back.

*/*

**A/n: The poem at starting of this chapter was from Ben/Angie POV. The part where Ben and Angie got married on the day of reunion is dedicated to my seniors who actually got married the same day after meeting in a reunion. This story is inspired from them but I decided to keep my main characters out of the wedding loop this soon in the story. Hope you liked it.**

**I have written deleted rewritten deleted and again rewritten this chapter for more than 6 times. I wanted to bring out Bella's thoughts without this getting too Angsty. Please let me know if it worked, it encourages me to write more and update sooner. **

**I would really love it if I got 5 reviews per chapter so that I will know that there are atleast 5 people out there reading this fic. But don't worry I wont hold the chapters hostage till I get 5 reviews. I will certainly hold it hostage till I get atleast 1 :P**

**Reviewers get teasers as long as they are logged in while reviewing. Seriously just review please : )**

**Keep smiling till next time,**

**Tweety**


	7. ArrangementsRearrangements

**Clearing the Air**

**Chapter 7: Arrangements/ Rearrangements**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything twilight… we all know who it belongs to..**

**A/N : This story does not have a beta. So, all mistakes are mine. Before I start I would like to thank bornonholloween for being the reason I started writing this fic. If it wasn't for her inspiration; I would never really have started writing this. Thank you, boh. **

**And sorry for the delay in posting, it was a rough week.**

**It will help me to answer your questions and send you teasers if you were logged in while reviewing. I asked for 5 reviews which I never got. : ( Anyways, to answer few of your concerns – Edward and Bella will have a lot more alone time and sensuality between them in the chapters to come. We should remember that it's still the day of reunion and about 5 hours or so since Edward and Bella saw each other again; though it may seem longer than that to you guys, it's still the same day. And after having so many misunderstandings between them, they can't jump each other's bones right away even if they want to. Trust me; I want them to have a lot of time together too. We will get there soon enough.**

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As Bella sat there sobbing in Edward and Rosalie's arms, Alice and Stacey rushed towards her to comfort her. The only problem was that they didn't know how to comfort her. What Bella had said about the photos and stalker was a lot of information and they were still processing the intensity of the situation. None of them knew what would happen next so they could not bring it in themselves to blatantly lie saying 'everything will be alright'. They didn't even know if she would want to hear anything right this moment. So they kept awkwardly patting her arms.

Guys on the other hand were miserable in their own way. They couldn't stand there and simply see their friend sobbing; they wanted to fix this somehow. The room was silent except for the sobs of Bella and light patting sounds. Emmett was the first to break the silence. "Um… why don't we guys go take a look around the area and see if anything seems suspicious? If this stalker has taken pictures of the room, then there is a good chance that he might still be in the vicinity". "That seems like a good idea, Eric and I will go too. Edward stay here with the girls" Jasper waved towards the group that was comforting Bella.

"No… I don't want any of you guys in trouble. Please don't go out there in search of a stalker for me… what if something happens to you guys? I don't want to cause any more trouble than I already have…" Bella spoke still sobbing. "Bull shit, do you think we get to do this stuff on a daily basis Bella? This is forks – the maximum action we get to see here is when the kids start throwing temper tantrum in the parks. And I will try to forget that you just insulted me by saying that something might happen to us… Bella I am a trained boxer, I can kick anyone's ass even when I am being gentle about it. Don't worry" Emmett consoled her. "Yeah, you guys do that. And speak to the hotel staff asking if there was any person lingering near the buffet room for me. Will ya?" Alice commanded to the guys. They nodded and went in search of the stalker.

"Wait! How will they know who they are looking for? I mean not that I have seen him or anything; but they didn't even ask for a description or anything." Bella was horrified at the prospect of the guys getting lost in a sea of people not knowing what they were looking for. Alice, Rose and Edward burst out laughing at this. Stacey and Bella kept staring at them with their mouths wide open and confusion written across their faces since they didn't know why they were laughing. They could not comprehend what was so funny when their other friends were about to lose themselves in a sea of people.

Noticing their looks, Alice composed herself and explained "This is Forks people. We practically know anyone and everyone who stays here. They just have to look out for anyone who doesn't look familiar. That's all". She said it like she was explaining the concept of possibility of life in Mars to two year olds. Both Bella and Stacey looked embarrassed for their part. "Okay now, Bella what do you want to do? I mean shouldn't we call Chief Swan and update him on this?" Rose asked.

"Actually there is a complication in that. The thing is… Charlie doesn't know anything about this stalker thingy" Bella said looking very interested in the design of carpet on which she was sitting at the moment. "Hold the train… you are telling us that you have a stalker behind you and your father does not know about it? How the hell did this happen?" Stacey asked incredulously. The expression of others in the room matched the surprise on her face. "Hey, I didn't know that I had a stalker behind me till today alright. So I didn't want to chumma bother Charlie." "Then how did you get a detective to stalk the stalker and didn't you say you had security guards parading around you? And what the hell is a 'chumma'? Alice asked getting angrier by the second.

"Like I said, the detective was due to Rajveer – Maggie's boyfriend's - over-influential family. Security was courtesy Maggie's paranoid family. 'Chumma' is courtesy Maggie – I hang around her so much that her words are rubbing off on me. See the thing with 'Chumma' is it means a kiss in Hindi – its Rajveer's mother tongue; and it means simple in 'Tamil' one of the many Indian Languages that Maggie is influenced with. Maggie simply keeps using the word at every possible opportunity to get a rise out of Rajveer who immediately thinks of kiss. Her habit has kind of rubbed off on me. You will find me using a lot of words from Indian languages when I speak." Bella explained blushing slightly as she looked at Edward every time she said 'Chumma'.

"Wait a minute… Maggie is Indian?" Alice enquired. "Cause her accent was perfect when she spoke to me. I didn't find anything odd in her accent." "Don't even think of asking these questions in front of her or Raj; they feel insulted. Maggie and Raj have been staying in US for a long time and they speak normal English to everyone else. Its only when they are with each other or they are way too comfortable they let these words slip. Since I am always with them, I happen to know these words. And to answer your question – Yes, Maggie is an Indian. South Indian to be specific, she comes from Bangalore and Rajveer is North Indian – comes from Delhi." Bella explained patiently pausing every now and then to let the information sink in.

"Oh, okay, fine… we need some time to process this." Stacey said speaking for all. They all were silent for a few minutes during which Edward wondered what else would unfold itself when he would finally start understanding the mystery that is Isabella Swan. He had been quiet this whole time, but still felt like he had communicated tons by just rubbing Bella on her back and rocking her back and forth. _'That's because you are tongue tied you idiot' his snarky self had made a comment. But immediately his angelic self appeared and chased away the snarky angel._

Bella was happy that even though she appeared to have composed herself, Edward didn't seem to want to let her go. Every time he would rock her, she would feel a smile threatening to appear on her lips. _Donald had made an entry several times pointing out Edward's gesture to her. To which Daffy just seemed to be pouting near the restroom doors. _

"May be I should call to check on Maggie and may be get more details on the situation?" Bella suggested. "Nah, give her some more time. She told she will call you herself once they get a grip over what has been going on." Alice told her.

Emmett, Jasper and Eric chose that moment to return from their little 'Stalker Hunt'. "Any news?" Rose asked hopefully. "Nah, we couldn't find any new bees outside. He might have left right after clicking those final photos." Emmett replied sullenly.

"We did find out that someone that wasn't on the list Alice gave had showed up claiming to be part of the reunion crowd. And the hotel guys figured that may be we forgot to add his name in the guest list and since this was a high school reunion; they left him inside… Bastards" Eric informed others. "Good, at least now we know that there is an actual person stalking me and not some random Ghost… that's got to be good news right?" Bella joked trying to diffuse the situation. "This is serious shit Bella, don't joke" Edward warned. "Did you get the descriptions?" he asked the guys who nodded and held out a paper in which they had noted the description.

"So, now what?" Bella asked. "Now we figure out where you will be crashing for the rest of your trip." Alice clapped her hands and started bouncing in excitement. "She can come with us to Seattle. Our place has a pretty good security since Eric needs it and the guest room isn't so bad either." Stacey offered.

"But Bella is here for vacations, she should stay in Forks and not three hour drive away from here. She obviously came here to spend time in her childhood neighborhood." Rose argued. "Which means Belle Boo will crash at our place. I am a trained boxer and can provide good security. Right Rosie?" Emmett suggested looking expectantly towards Rosalie.

"But my place is closer to Charlie's home and I am the one who arranged this reunion, so she should stay at our place. Right Jazzy?" Alice offered. "Yup! You should totally crash at our place" Jasper agreed.

"But your place is filled with wedding gifts and other stuff. Your guest room has been turned to store room. Where will Bella stay?" Rose argued. "We will move stuff around and make place. Its not like your place is much better. You and Emmett both have jobs to go to in the day and Bella will be left alone. What kind of security will that be?" Alice challenged. "We will figure stuff out" Rose retorted.

"Wow, she can stay at your place when nobody else will accompany her there right Alice? Aren't you going to New York on Monday for some more shopping?" Emmett kindly reminded her. "Right and will Bella be able to sleep with all the sounds you guys make at night. I have stayed at your place once since I was too drunk and I still feel the need to bleach my brain to get rid of the sounds." Jasper kindly reminded Emmett and Rose.

Soon it was a chaos of arguments and accusations and everybody except Bella an Edward seemed to be arguing. Bella, who had barely recovered from her earlier panic attack, seemed to be having another one right there. She appreciated that her friends were more than willing to help her but it was not a pretty sight to watch them fight over her. Edward on the other hand was getting agitated that nobody seemed to notice that he was sitting right there and were going on about their argument as if there was no tomorrow.

"Shut up… Just SHUT UP!" Edward shouted. Bella had been shaking uncontrollably since the others started arguing about her living arrangements and on top of that he was angry that no one had suggested that Bella could stay at his place. He just lost control of his temper.

"Bella is staying at my place. End of argument. Is that clear?" he looked at the furious expressions of his friends and continued, "I live in Forks, the distance between my home and Chief's is not unreasonable, I don't have a room full of stuff for wedding, I work from home – so I can take care of Bella even during the day. I am single and don't do one-night-stands so Bella doesn't need to worry about horrible sounds in night. The only other house in my apartment is vacant, so Bella doesn't need to worry about any nosy neighbors. I cook pretty well, so she will be well fed. Anything else?" Edward dared others to argue. Seeing the determined look in his face nobody felt like arguing with him, so they nodded sheepishly.

"But I don't wanna impose. I will be perfectly fine in the hotel room. Maggie is just getting paranoid for no reason." Bella tried to reason. She didn't want to cause any trouble for anyone, especially not to Edward there were so many things that she needed to care about without adding living with him in the mix. "Are you trying to say that you would rather be kidnapped from that Hotel Room than staying with me? Do you really think I am that bad a company?" Edward asked her truly annoyed. Bella didn't know how to respond to this, she didn't want to intrude in his life but she also wanted to spend more time with him. She was both happy and horrified at the prospect of staying with him. "Okay" she responded. "Okay what Bella? Okay you will be kidnapped or Okay you will stay with me?" Edward questioned.

"Okay I will stay with you. For now; I am here for a month and a half, I don't want to cause trouble to you for such a long time. May be I will rent the house next to yours if that's okay?" she enquired. "Trust me Bella, you wont be causing any trouble. But if it makes you feel better, we will talk about that house to the landlord on Monday. He wont be available on weekends. So, you will be coming with me right?" Edward wanted a confirmation. He could deal with Bella being his neighbor if that made her happy. But for now he wanted to take her home. He could vaguely hear Stacey muttering 'that happens very rarely in real life' in background and others cracking up on it. Bella was blushing bright red at Stacey's comment and its insinuation. That's when Edward understood the joke and stifled a chuckle.

"Fine, I will go with you. But first we need to get back to the hotel to grab my stuff." "Fine I will get the car started." Edward walked towards the parking. Others decided to accompany them to the hotel and to depart from there, since it will also give them the opportunity to get a good look around the hotel to find anything suspicious.

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**A/N: Sorry for any typos, I did post it right after finishing it. So couldn't go through. And the chapter may have differed slightly from the teaser; but it was better this way.**

**Thank you for all the alerts and favorites. And hugs and kisses to the ones who review. Let me know your thoughts on the chapter by pressing the blue link below… Please you will make my day *Bats eyelashes***

**Keep Smiling**

**Tweety : )**


	8. ride

**Clearing the Air**

**Chapter 8: **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything twilight… we all know who it belongs to..**

**A/N : This story does not have a beta. So, all mistakes are mine. Before I start I would like to thank bornonholloween for being the reason I started writing this fic. If it wasn't for her inspiration; I would never really have started writing this. Thank you, boh for your inspiration and continued love. You make me smile at most unexpected of times **

**So, I am back.. exams were as horrible as they are portrayed and that's all about it.**

**I also wanted to tell you guys that I am changing the format of story… there will be short chapters about 800 – 1000 words but upates will be frequent. That's good… right? So lets get the show on road…**

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Previously after much confusion and argument about Bella's safety, it was agreed that she was going to stay with Edward… for the weekend - she wanted to rent apartment next to his but that was gonna have to wait. They were on their way to hotel… and now we follow them like the creepy stalkers that we are :P

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Back in the car along with Edward, Bella didn't know what she was really feeling. She was glad that she was spending time with the one person she thought about most all these years; but at the same time events of the day kept coming back to her. 'How did I go from _dreaming_ about spending time with the Edward that I lost in 5th grade to actually getting to _stay with him_ in his house till an unknown period all in the same day? Oh, I also found out that I have a stalker btw; one who actually followed me all the way to Forks from Florida. Does life get any better?' she thought and shook her head at how ridiculous it sounded even to her ears.

"Hey what are you thinking about?" Edward broke the silence by asking the one question he was troubled with since a long time. "Nothing; just going through the day in my head and trying out different ways of describing it to others. Cause something tells me that I am going to be talking a lot about today's day and to many people too." Bella replied still stunned at the way her day had turned out. She was so baffled by it that although Donald and Daffy kept appearing before her eyes, they were silent! Even they didn't know what to make out of her day. Interesting day would be the understatement of the decade if she called it so.

Edward chuckled at her admission and wondered if he could help her with the ways of describing the day from his point of view, _'I got to meet the girl I'd managed to scare away in 5__th__ grade by telling her that I wanted to kiss her. Actually want to even now, obviously, also found out that she is being stalked and I want to kill that creepy idiot, and somehow got her to agree to stay with me albeit for the weekend. Oh, I didn't tell her that I got Alice to con that girl into coming to this reunion all the while stalking her on facebook, which is not creepy at all!' _ no, that wouldn't be ok… How about _'Its been a really educative day where in I found out how creepy it is to stalk a girl when the stalker is not you! And as a reward for learning this, I am getting to have my favorite girl in the world stay with me!'_ ha he thought! If only.

"Well, what is the best statement you came up with then?" he asked Bella figuring it would be best to keep her talking lest she start having a panic attack again. "You'd think being a communications trainer, by now I would have learnt to communicate things to people… but apparently I have not. I've just decided to let the words flow whenever I am actually required to speak them out loud and not bother dressing them up beforehand. So, yeah… I don't know how I am gonna word it. Can you help?" Bella asked in a voice full of hope. "Maybe, but Bella dearest, the day has not ended yet. We still have a lot to look forward to. Can we come back to this at the day end?"

"Oh, so we have _things_ to look forward to is it? I wonder what they may be?" Bella flirted feeling comforted in knowing Edward was looking forward to being with her. "Well, for starters we should look forward on the road so as to avoid any accidents that might occur during the long drive in this deserted town! We wouldn't wanna have a World Record in our names for getting into the only accident in the history of this midget town now, do we?" Edward joked feeling slightly nervous. _Was Bella flirting with me just now? No, I must be mistaken. 'You are an idiot of the first order' _his angelic and devil selfs said in unision shaking their heads as if he was a lost cause.

"You are right we wouldn't want that. Now if you will, the road is that way Mister" Bella pointed straight ahead in a mocking way to remind Edward to look back at the road and not at her face like he had been doing since the start of this conversation. Bella felt slightly elated at the adoring way in which Edward was staring at her, but it was also starting to freak her out as her insecurities started making an appearance. In her mind, Edward only looked towards her because he had the roads memorized and she was a break in this monotony of gloomy town. What she didn't know was that Edward was looking at her to try and make up for the lost time by drinking her in.

"Oh, I know which way the road is Miss, Thank you very much" Edward squeaked mocking hurt. This made Bella laugh so hard that the car was vibrating with her shake. "And isn't that the hotel you are staying in?" the car came to a halt as they finally reached their destination. Bella felt sick to her stomach at the thought of entering that forsaken place where her stalker had probably been not long ago. Sensing her discomfort, Edward squeezed her arms in a reassuring way "Just a last hurdle, before our happily ever after, beautiful. Now let's get through it together baby." Bella's eyes widened in surprise at Edward's words; which led Edward to realize what he had slipped up. He clamped a hand on his mouth in an attempt to stop the words that were already out.

**You know the deal, leave me some love and get teaser in return.**

**Love,**

**Tweety**


	9. Chapter 9

**Clearing the Air**

**Chapter 9: **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything twilight… we all know who it belongs to..**

**A/N : This story does not have a beta. So, all mistakes are mine. Before I start I would like to thank bornonholloween for being the reason I started writing this fic. If it wasn't for her inspiration; I would never really have started writing this. Thank you, boh for your inspiration and continued love. You make me smile at most unexpected of times**

**I know I once promised not to post till I get atleast one review per chapter… but my last chapter never got any reviews…! Not even one… I know I don't have thousands of readers, but it was quite disappointing to see that I don't even have one reader. Anyway I am not the person who leaves the fic hanging because apparently nobody reads it. I will finish this fic. May not be in the way I originally planned it. But I will finish it nevertheless.**

**So, this is the last chapter of this story. I will tie up loose ends and get done with it. Sorry if it seems a little rushed.**

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_Previously_

"_Oh, I know which way the road is Miss, Thank you very much" Edward squeaked mocking hurt. This made Bella laugh so hard that the car was vibrating with her shake. "And isn't that the hotel you are staying in?" the car came to a halt as they finally reached their destination. Bella felt sick to her stomach at the thought of entering that forsaken place where her stalker had probably been not long ago. Sensing her discomfort, Edward squeezed her arms in a reassuring way "Just a last hurdle, before our happily ever after, beautiful. Now let's get through it together baby." Bella's eyes widened in surprise at Edward's words; which led Edward to realize what he had slipped up. He clamped a hand on his mouth in an attempt to stop the words that were already out._

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"Ed- Edward? ?" Bella stuttered still wide eyed; unable to believe what she just heard. '_He can't really mean it… can he?' _She asked Yogi Bear who again appeared in front of her eyes. _'Seeing the way he slipped up without realizing it I'm pretty sure he means it B. And you need to start telling him how you really feel rather than conversing with me right about now.' _Yogi advised her. Bella was still weary worried that if she really admitted to how she felt, Edward might run away. _'Really B? Are you gonna do it again? You have already suffered for a long time for not having told him how you actually feel… you gonna really repeat that again? Have you not learnt anything in all these years? That boy has put himself out there again, in spite of what you did last time. You owe it to him'._

Seeing the look of pure shock in Bella's eyes, Edward was convinced that he had screwed up again. He was chastising himself for having blurted it out and having put Bella in the uncomfortable position she was in right now. _'She probably is thinking of where she is gonna stay tonight now that I've made it pretty impossible for her to stay with me tonight. Why the fuck did I have to open my big mouth?'_ he wondered. Just as he was about to laugh it off or apologize for it; whichever worked – Bella started speaking.

"Did you mean what you said Edward?" Bella's voice was tentative, low and so unsure it made Edward's heart ache for her. And any thoughts he had about denying the entire thing just fled out of the window. "Yes, I meant it Bella, more than you will ever know. Its ok if you don't want me like that though. I know it was possibly foo" Edward is stopped mid-rant when Bella presses her lips to his. Its not tentative or unsure – rather its firm and hard. Their lips start getting acquainted with each other as their fingers wind up in each other's neck and hair. The kiss is all consuming and everything that they had denied themselves for so long. It's the kiss that was supposed to happen in fifth grade. It's the kiss that was supposed to have happened everyday eversince. Its not open mouthed, there are no tongues involved, its not even wet, but still its perfect in its own way. It pours both their passions in it and creates something much more wonderful. It creates love.

This realization dawns on both of them at the same time and they break apart panting heavily for air. Both look at each other lost in similar thoughts of love. "I love you" both of them say together and are blissed out by the perfect timing of it. Both start doing internal happy dances at others declarations. Their bubble is broken when Bella's phone starts ringing loudly between them.

"Sorry, its Maggie. I have to take it" Bella says apologetically. Edward motions for her to go ahead with his hands while still grinning goofily at her. "Hello" Bella robotically answers her phone, her eyes still glued to the man in front of her.

Bella stills completely at what she hears at the other end. "I – I just don't understand, why me then" she questions, her eyebrows scrunch up in confusion. Edward starts to panic but Bella shakes her head to let him know that things aren't really bad. Still unable to relax completely, Edward settles for holding her hands and massaging the back of her palm with his thumbs. Bella's face relaxes into a smile slowly and she exhales in relief before thanking Maggie and hanging up by wishing her a good time.

"They caught the stalker" Bella informs an expectant Edward. "What?... How" "It was a rival of Maggie's boyfriend. He was working towards this really important contract which apparently was a big deal to that guy as well. So that guy thought of kidnapping his girlfriend and demanding that contract as a ransom…. Lame I know, but that guy has a medical history of instability. It made sense to him I guess. But the problem was since the three of us always hang out together, he didn't know who his girlfriend was. So he had one of his goons follow me here. Anyway, they were trying to drop off another package on the door inconspicuously when the cops jumped from neighboring flats and caught him. Guess he didn't think we'd go to cops so soon.. After a bit of interrogation, he accepted his crimes and all is well. They've got the local police looking for his side kick here as well."

"Oh God, Bella…. Huh, Thank god this is all over" Edward sighs in relief but tenses up again "So you wont be coming with me huh?" the sadness seeps through his voice as he looks down at his lap trying unsuccessfully to hide his disappointment.

"Hey" Bella says as she lifts his chin up, forcing him to look at her. "After what we just said and shared here, I'm more than happy to be spending time with you. I have no reservations against staying with you unless you do" "No, I don't have any reservations. In fact, it would make me insanely happy if you stayed with me" Edward's smile is dazzling as he says this. "But what now, where do we stand now, what to we do after Alice and Jasper's wedding? I just got you back and I don't want to lose you again" the sincerity in Edward's eyes warming Bella's heart.

"Seriously Edward, I haven't thought about it. But we will work it out. Either I will move in here or you can come back to Florida with me, whatever works, we still have time to figure it out. And even if don't it not like there is any time limit now. I am in this with you forever. _I love you_, forever". Bella reassures Edward before leaning in for another intense kiss. This one however, is light and full of promises.

"I am in this with you forever too. And I love you… Sooooooo much…. Lets get your things out of here and start our forever right now" Edward declares urging Bella out of the car. The two of them head towards a world of unknown and uncertainties with just the love for each other that would help them get through it all. The world is no longer scary to them. And they couldn't wait to start their happily ever after right about now.

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**So…. That's it. Hope you all enjoyed it. If you have any questions feel free to PM me. I think I sorted out major stuff in this here. There may be one or two out takes down the lane when inspiration strikes. But that's it for now.**

**Keep smiling**

**Tweety **


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